A Bitcoin wallet dormant for 13 years transferred its entire 909 BTC balance worth $85 million, adding to a wave of ancient addresses reactivating in recent months.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence tracked the transfer from address 1A2hqHVSUERAT3t1yJ7ggYCQccvH6pZGZm to a new address bc1qk5xaeh.
The wallet first accumulated cryptocurrency between December 2012 and April 2013, when Bitcoin traded below $7 per coin.
The holder now sits on an unrealized gain exceeding 13,000%, though the coins have not yet moved to known exchange wallets, suggesting potential security consolidation rather than liquidation.
Resurgence of Dormant Wallets
The dormant whale transfer continues a pattern observed throughout this year as long-inactive wallets moved more than $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency, according to onchain data.
The most significant sale occurred in July when roughly 80,000 BTC held for 14 years sold near $108,000 per coin through institutional firm Galaxy Digital, totaling approximately $9 billion.
Bitcoin traded around $93,000 at press time, down more than 27% from its early October peak above $126,000.
The latest wallet movement comes as blockchain sleuths tracked over 62,800 BTC exiting addresses older than seven years in early to mid-year, more than double the amount during the same period in the previous year.
Motivations Behind Early Holder Activity
Early holders repositioning cryptocurrency after years of dormancy could signal various motivations beyond simple profit-taking.
Some analysts suggest security-conscious holders may be responding to growing warnings about future quantum computing threats to Bitcoin's elliptic-curve signatures.
Older addresses using pay-to-public-key formats have already exposed their public keys, potentially making them more vulnerable when quantum computers become sufficiently advanced.
Research firm Chaincode Labs estimates approximately 6.51 million BTC, representing 32.7% of current supply and worth over $700 billion, remains quantum vulnerable.
While most cryptographers view practical quantum threats as years away, recent proposals like developer Agustin Cruz's Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol suggest the ecosystem is preparing migration paths to post-quantum cryptographic schemes.